Helenio Herrera

Infobox Football biography
playername = Helenio Herrera


fullname = Helenio Herrera
nickname = "H.H.", "Il Mago" (The Wizard)
dateofbirth = birth date|1910|4|17|df=y
cityofbirth = Buenos Aires
countryofbirth = Argentina
dateofdeath = death date and age|df=yes|1997|11|9|1910|4|17
cityofdeath = Venice
countryofdeath = Italy
currentclub =
years =?-?
1931-1932
1932-1933
1933-1935
1935-1937
1937-1939
1940-1942
1942-1943
1943-1944
1944-1945
clubs = Roches Noires
RC Casablanca
CASG Paris
Stade Français
FCO Charleville
Excelsior AC Roubaix
Red Star Olympique
Stade Français
EF Paris-Capitale
Puteaux
caps(goals) =
manageryears = 1944-1945 1945-1948 1949 1949-1952 1952 1953 1953-1956
1956-1958 1958-1960 1960-1968 1968-1973 1973-1974 1978-1979 1979-1981
managerclubs = Puteaux Stade Français Real Valladolid Atlético Madrid CD Málaga Deportivo de La Coruña Sevilla FC CF Os Belenenses Barcelona F.C. Internazionale AS Roma F.C. Internazionale Rimini Barcelona

Helenio Herrera (17 April 1910 in Buenos Aires – 9 November 1997 in Venice) was a French-Argentine football player and manager. Herrera had a relatively modest career as a player but, with 16 major titles, he became not only one of the most successful, but also one of the most influential managers in the history of the game.

Playing career

There is a controversy regarding his year of birth, as, in the 50s, he manipulated his birth year changing it to from 1910 to 1916. While born in Argentina, Herrera emigrated at age four with his parents (both Spanish) to Casablanca, Morocco where he adopted French citizenship. Playing as a defender, in 1932 he earned a transfer from RC Casablanca to mainland France - CASG Paris. Before World War II, Herrera (or "H.H." as he was known) played in Stade Français, FCO Charleville (where he was called up for the national team twice) and Excelsior Roubaix. During the war, he played for five years more in Red Star Paris, Stade Français, EF Paris-Capitale and Puteaux, where he started his managing career in 1944 as a player-manager. He retired in 1945, and while his playing career was very short of notable, his managing career, coinciding with the early beginnings of UEFA competitions, had a marked effect on the game's tactical definitions.

Managing career

After his first season in Puteaux, Herrera rejoined Stade Français for a third time now as manager. After three seasons with no trophies collected, the club's president opted to sell the franchise. Herrera moved to Spain, where he spent the next six years in minor stints with Real Valladolid, Atlético Madrid, CD Málaga, Deportivo de La Coruña and Sevilla FC, before entering a two year tenure with Lisbon side CF Os Belenenses. Later returning to Spain, he managed giants FC Barcelona, but several problems, including disagreements between him and star player Ladislao Kubala obliged him to leave the club in 1960.

He emigrated to Italy and signed with Internazionale, winning two European Champions Cup in his stay with the club, where he modified a 5-3-2 tactic known as the "Verrou" (door bolt) to include larger flexibility for counter attacks - and the "Catenaccio" was born. During this time he was also coaching Spain (between 1959 and 1962) and Italy (1966-67). In 1968 the moved to AS Roma (winning one cup), but returned for a one year stint with Inter for the 1973-74 season. Then suffered a heart attack, did not want to coach full time anymore and retired in Venice where he lived the rest of his life. While inactive between 1974 and 1978, Herrera returned briefly during the end of the decade, managing Rimini Calcio and finally ending his career with a return to FC Barcelona for two half seasons in 1980 and 1981.

Influence

He pioneered the use of psychological motivating skills -his pep-talk phrases are still quoted today, e.g. "who doesn't give it all, gives nothing" or "with 10 our team plays better than with 11" (after his team had to face the second half of a game with only 10 players on the field). He also enfored a strict discipline code, for the first time forbidding players to drink or smoke and controlling their diet - once in Inter he suspended a player after telling the press "we came to play in Rome" instead of "we came to win in Rome". He was also one of the first managers to call the support of the "12th player" - the spectators. While indirectly, this led to the appearance of the first "Ultras" movements in the late 60s. While defensive in nature, his take on the Catenaccio was slightly different than that practiced by other Italian teams and the original "Verrou", as he often used the full backs (particularly Giacinto Facchetti) as wingbacks (defensively supported by the libero) to launch faster counter-attacks, a staple of Italian tactics - yet, he never denied the heart of his team relied on defense. He was also the first manager to collect credit for his teams' performances. Up to that time managers were more marginal figures in a team. All teams were known for their headline-grabbing individual players, exampled by such a star like "Di Stéfano's Real Madrid", whereas Inter FC during the 60s is still referred to as "Herrera's Inter".

Titles

Altogether Helenio Herrera won 16 major titles in his coaching career. Here is an overview:

Helenio Herrera was the first coach that coached three national teams:

1946-1948: France (as coach to the management of Gaston Barreau)1959-1962: Spain (famously at the 1962 FIFA World Cup)1966-1967: Italy (together with Ferruccio Valcareggi)

Since then, most prominently Henri Michel, coaching Cameroon, Morocco two times, Tunisia and Ivory Coast, Guus Hiddink, coaching the Netherlands, South Korea, Australia and Russia as well as Bora Milutinović, coaching Mexico, Costa Rica, the United States, Nigeria, China, Honduras and Jamaica have surpassed him, although with the exception of Hiddink's time managing Holland, none of these managed more than one regular in the top ten of the FIFA World Rankings - all of Herrera's international appointments were at major international teams.

Managerial stats

Trivia

Helenio Herrera was nicknamed "il Mago" (the Wizard) and "H.H." (from the initials of his name) by Italian sports journalists (who recognized him as one of the finest coaches in Italian football history) because on occasion he would provocatively announce the results of Sunday's games and often his prediction turned out to be correct. He is unrelated with the less famous Heriberto Herrera, another football coach who directed Juventus and Inter in the same years.

ee also

* La Grande Inter

External links

* [http://www.lfp.es/historico/primera/entrenadores/historial.asp?ent=057 La Liga manager stats]
* [http://www.futbolfactory.futbolweb.net/index.php?ff=personajes&f2=00001&idpersonaje=8 Biography] (Spanish)